RMH Healthcare to join Sentara

RMH Healthcare in Harrisonburg has agreed to affiliate with Sentara Healthcare.

RMH has been evaluating health systems since the beginning of the year, according to RMH Chair Barbara B. Stoltzfus.

“The current economics of healthcare make it difficult for independent community hospitals like RMH to survive and thrive in the long term,” she said. “The RMH Board recognized that to ensure the future of high-quality healthcare for our community, we would need to seek a larger health system with whom to affiliate. We also realized that the time to seek affiliation was when we were fortunate to be in a strong position.”

Stoltzfus said it had considered 10 systems and chose RMH because it was also a nonprofit organization and had the services, technology and financial strength.

The boards of directors of both organizations have signed a letter of intent to proceed with negotiations and a regulator review that will take six months or more. The hospitals will likely affiliate in early 2011.

Under the agreement, Rockingham Memorial Hospital will retain its name and neither organization will undergo any layoffs.